Question:
I have two grandparents born in
italy and one grandparent born in
Ireland Both deceased. Can I, a
born-in-the-USA citizen, get either
an Italy or Ireland passport?
Answer:
Absolutely you can get Irish citizenship.
You need to collect the paperwork.
See http://www.uniset.ca for the
law, and do a Google search to find
the experience of others. The Irish
consular office will give you info
and applications. Your minor children
will get Irish nationality too,
and can pass it on to their children
and grandchildren.
Italian nationality
is also transmissible, but with
more restrictions. Irish is easier.
My daughter is Irish (born in Belfast,
NI) and I've been through the system.
Birth records for some years prior
to 1911 were lost in a Dublin fire
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/660.asp
But generally Irish records (North
and South) are very detailed and
easily recoverable. You will find
most of the bureaucrats you need
to deal with helpful and friendly.
The Irish Embassy website http://www.irelandemb.org
also has useful information.
However, any
children you have now won't be eligible
for Irish citizenship (as you need
to be an Irish citizen when the
child is born to be able to pass
on citizenship). The only way they
would be able to get citizenship
would be if you brought them to
settle in Ireland and then applied
for them to be naturalised - although
the law allows this, the policies
under which the naturalisation law
in Ireland is administered are not
publicly available. That is, if
written policy on the subject even
exists. Any children born to you
in the US *after* you get registered
as an Irish citizen can be registered
as Irish citizens themselves through
Foreign Birth Registration.
Italian nationality
is also transmissible, but with
more restrictions. The problem with
Italy, as far as I understand it,
is that the parent must usually
be Italian at the time of the child's
birth. On and before 16 August 1992,
Italian citizenship was generally
lost on naturalisation in the US,
so if your parents were born after
your grandparents became US citizens
then you may be out of luck. Otherwise
you may be eligible for Italian
citizenship, and also to pass it
on to your wife and children. The
following page gives an overview:
http://www.italianconsulate.bc.ca/English/CittadinanzaENG.html
If pursuing
Italian citizenship, you should
be fully aware of Italy's military
service laws. Other than that there
should be no harm (and perhaps some
advantage) in having both Irish
and Italian passports.Irish is easier.
My daughter is Irish (born in Belfast,
NI) and I've been through the system.
If she was born in Belfast then
she didn't need to go through the
Foreign Birth Registration system.
